Nicolás Maduro is officially the man with the world’s highest price on his head. The United States has increased the reward for his arrest to $50 million and deployed an aircraft carrier with 4,000 sailors to the Caribbean.
At least 83 people have died in 21 strikes on alleged drug boats since September. And still, experts say the supposed organization he leads has no real structure—no members, no hierarchy. This raises an unsettling question: what is Washington actually fighting for?
“Cartel Of The Suns” But Its Origins Tell A Different Story
In the 1990s, when Venezuelan reporters discovered generals in military uniforms dealing drugs, they mocked them with a name – Cartel de los Soles – the “suns” stitched on their epaulettes. What began as satire became institutional reality.
Over decades, it transformed into an umbrella term for government officials, military officers, and police allegedly funneling drugs, gold, and fuel through Venezuela’s criminal state apparatus, according to U.S. Treasury Department statements.
It Doesn’t Officially Exist
Adam Isaacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, points to a fundamental contradiction. “It is not a group,” he said flatly. “There are no regular meetings. No hierarchy.”
Yet the U.S. deploys its largest Caribbean fleet in 60 years to fight an entity with no membership, bylaws, or organizational chart. It’s unprecedented in military logic. How do you engage militarily against something that doesn’t officially exist?
Venezuela – A “Criminal Hybrid State”
Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, reframes the entire picture. Cartel de los Soles isn’t a cartel at all, he explains. It’s a corrupt system where military elites trade loyalty to Maduro for freedom to traffic drugs, smuggle gold, and run contraband.
In exchange, these officials maintain Maduro’s power. Venezuela, McDermott concluded, is a “hybrid criminal governance” state where government and organized crime dissolve into each other entirely.
Maduro Conspiring To “Flood” America With Cocaine
March 2020 marked a turning point in U.S. strategy. The Justice Department, under Attorney General William Barr, brought narco-terrorism charges against Maduro and 14 other Venezuelan officials. Prosecutors accused them of conspiring with Colombian rebels to “flood the United States with cocaine” as asymmetrical warfare.
The indictment estimated 200 to 250 metric tons trafficked through Venezuela yearly. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López faced the same charges.
Bounty on Maduro’s Head $50 Million
August 2025 brought a dramatic escalation. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the bounty doubled from $25 million to $50 million. But her announcement included a chilling inventory: the Justice Department had seized $700 million in Maduro-associated assets, including private jets, and nearly seven tons of cocaine directly linked to him.
It’s the highest price ever placed on a sitting president’s head in modern history. A separate $25 million bounty covers Interior Minister Cabello.
U.S. Applied Terror Labels To Drug Cartels
February 2025 shattered a 30-year precedent. The Trump administration designated eight Latin American criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations—a historic first. FTO labels had been reserved for political extremists and jihadist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Now Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco cartel, and Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua occupied the same legal category as international jihadist networks. The legal boundary between organized crime and terrorism had been erased.
Maduro’s Government a Narco-Trafficking Operation
July 2025 formalized what officials had been suggesting. Treasury designated Cartel de los Soles as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” entity, according to the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Treasury’s language was direct: Maduro’s government hadn’t merely tolerated trafficking—it had weaponized its military and intelligence services into trafficking machines.
Officials alleged Maduro provided material support to both Tren de Aragua and Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, outsourcing Venezuela’s state apparatus to criminal enterprises.
The Largest U.S. Naval Deployment In The Caribbean
November 16, 2025. The USS Gerald R. Ford—the world’s most advanced aircraft carrier—entered Caribbean waters, according to Navy statements. Four thousand sailors. Dozens of F-35 stealth fighters. Destroyers and amphibious ships trailing behind. By mid-November, approximately 15,000 U.S. military personnel were deployed to the region.
Military analysts confirmed what everyone was thinking: the heaviest American naval concentration in the Caribbean since October 1962—the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Top U.S. Military Commander Visited The Region
General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Trinidad and Tobago on November 25 to meet with regional leaders amid heightened military operations. Rear Admiral Paul Lanzilotta, commanding the carrier strike group, described the Gerald R. Ford as providing “the most capable, adaptable, and lethal platform in the world” to combat “narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere.”
The visit signaled that significant operations were underway from the military’s highest levels.
U.S. Strikes On Alleged Drug Boats
The strikes began in September. On September 2, President Trump announced a “kinetic strike” against what he characterized as a Tren de Aragua vessel, killing eleven people, according to his statements. As of November 16, at least 21 strikes on 22 vessels had killed at least 83 people, according to U.S. military reports and SOUTHCOM announcements.
The Trump administration asserted these were drug trafficking operations, though no classified evidence verifying cargo or affiliations has been publicly released.
The Designation Opens “New Options” Against Venezuela
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was asked directly about next steps. The terror designation, he said, “brings a whole bunch of new options to the United States.” When pressed about military strikes on Venezuelan territory—government buildings, military headquarters, presidential palaces—he responded: “Nothing is off the table, but nothing’s automatically on the table.”
His language signaled that the administration was actively considering additional military options.
Venezuela Calls The Designation A “Ridiculous Fabrication”
Maduro’s government fought back. Venezuela’s foreign ministry called the designation a “ridiculous fabrication” of “the nonexistent Cartel of the Suns.” Officials accused Washington of employing the playbook used in past interventions in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Chile—manufacturing pretexts to justify regime change.
They argued the United States was using terror designations as legal cover for military intervention, according to statements released by Venezuela’s foreign ministry.
Maduro Points To UN Data Showing Venezuela Is A Minor Drug Transit Route
Maduro cited U.S. government data highlighting a significant discrepancy. According to 2020 U.S. estimates, Venezuela trafficked approximately 200 to 250 metric tons of cocaine annually. Guatemala, by contrast, saw 1,400 metric tons flow through in 2018, according to the State Department’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. Colombia produces over 70 percent of global cocaine.
The implicit question: why is the massive military focus on Venezuela rather than larger transit points?
2024 Election Dispute
The election dispute provides a crucial underlying context. In July 2024, Venezuela held presidential elections. The government announced Maduro won with 51 percent of the votes. Opposition figures presented voting tallies claiming their candidate, Edmundo González, captured roughly 70 percent—nearly triple Maduro’s share.
A Washington Post analysis of data gathered by the opposition confirmed their numbers. The election appeared rigged on a massive scale. Washington refused to accept Maduro as legitimate.
Trump And His Team Refuse To Acknowledge Maduro
President Trump made it official: he does not recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s rightful leader. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Venezuelan government “a narco-trafficking organization masquerading as a state,” according to State Department statements.
Rubio maintains channels to opposition figures and has signaled clearly that the Trump administration cannot envision a scenario where Maduro remains in power. Officials use the phrase “not sustainable”—diplomat-speak for inevitable removal.
The Terror Label Doesn’t Actually Authorize Military Force
Legal scholars raise a crucial objection to the current operations. Rebecca Ingber, a professor at Cardozo Law School and a former State Department attorney, stated clearly: “An FTO designation does not make an organization a lawful target for use of force.” Ryan Goodman, former Pentagon special counsel, agreed.
Under international law, military action is justified only in response to an armed attack, thereby necessitating self-defense. Drug trafficking does not meet this standard.
Counter-Narcotics Operation
Venezuelan officials, international law experts, and regional analysts are increasingly viewing the military buildup as a show of force. The ruling party has held power for 26 years since Hugo Chávez took office. The USS Gerald R. Ford deployment, deadly boat strikes, and terror designations form a pattern that looks to observers less like drug enforcement and more like methodical pressure on Maduro’s government.
Many see narco-trafficking as the stated reason for operations, not necessarily the underlying political motivation.
Intelligence Reports Suggest Growing Anxiety Within Maduro’s Inner Circle
A senior U.S. administration official told reporters that American intelligence intercepts show “growing anxiety from Maduro and other high-level Venezuelan officials as the U.S. strikes continue.”
The official noted that pleas from Maduro and associates seeking direct talks with the Trump administration—relayed through various intermediaries—have grown “more frantic,” according to administration officials.
What Happens Next Remains Deeply Uncertain
The Trump administration is weighing an array of options—escalating military strikes, covert CIA operations, economic pressure, and possibly direct military intervention—without committing to a specific path. Trump has expressed simultaneous willingness to negotiate with Maduro while publicly refusing to rule out military action.
American warships now dominate the Caribbean in the largest concentration since the Cold War. A sitting president carries history’s highest bounty. The coming weeks will determine Maduro’s fate and Venezuela’s future.
Sources:
U.S. State Department bounty announcement Aug 2025
DOJ narco-terrorism indictment Mar 2020
Treasury OFAC terrorist designation Jul 2025
U.S. Navy deployment statements Nov 2025
SOUTHCOM strike reports Sep–Nov 2025
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) analysis
InSight Crime hybrid governance report
Cardozo Law School legal analysis
Washington Post election data analysis 2024
State Dept International Narcotics Control Strategy Report
Venezuela Foreign Ministry statements Nov 2025
Reuters/AP/BBC strike reporting Sep 2025
CNN military deployment coverage Nov 2025
Al Jazeera cartel designation explainer Nov 2025